After The Installation

After the user confirms the password and the email address, ScanGuard continues to update the software application’s definitions.

Then it automatically performs a scan of the user’s system with four of its components.

These are as follows:

Web Security

Disk Cleaner

Antivirus

System Boost

After the scan finishes, ScanGuard then displays the results of the scan.

We found that ScanGuard showed accurate results.

Since we used a brand new VM to test ScanGuard, it didn’t show us any “malware” on the system.

In other words, it didn’t exaggerate the condition of our new system.

So, we had no problems with ScanGuard in that department.

With that said, when we tried to resolve some of the issues it had found, it took us straight to the pop-up message that said that the software would only solve these issues once we make the payment.

Needless to say, that doesn’t bode well for a security product.

Especially when you consider that even to get read of a simple 24MB junk file it wanted the user to make a payment.

And this happened with all the other functions as well.

In other words, ScanGuard found all the errors in our system but didn’t want to solve them unless we paid first.

So what’s the use of the free version then?

Scanguard then provided us with the full free version.

This version allowed us to use all its functions.

And they all worked as you would expect them to work on a new system.

But if we are strictly talking about ScanGuard free version that you get from its download link, then know that nothing there is free.

You will have to pay if you want the software product to do something useful.

Our research for this ScanGuard review also tells us that if you view ScanGuard in the Task Manager, it would show you two related processes.

That is pretty normal as well.

Features

As it turns out, if you really look hard enough you can access the ScanGuard Download button.

ScanGuard keeps making changes to its layout and design but we found the ScanGuard Download link via the Help Center.

Once you go to the Help Center you need to make your way to the Knowledge Base section.

Then you have to click the option that says Installation Guides.

After that, you must go to the operating system that you want to get help for.

Since we tested it on Windows platform, we decided to go to the Windows Installation subsection.

After that, you need to click on Guide.

And then on Installing ScanGuard On Windows.

There you should see a ScanGuard Download button.

Pretty difficult.

And we don’t know the reason why ScanGuard would want to hide its official Download button under so many layers.

Regardless, let’s move forward to discuss some of the features that ScanGuard offers with its “free” download and, upon request, a “paid” version trial download.

Remember, these features will identify problems in your machine but won’t actually solve them if you are using the “free” version from the website.

You’ll have to get in touch with company representatives to grant you access to the free paid version and if you’re lucky enough they will do so.

With that out of the way let’s take a look at the major features that ScanGuard offers.

Antivirus Program

The Antivirus program is a standard feature for all antivirus products.

You can review some later sections of this ScanGuard review in order to find out how good that antivirus engine really is.

Once you click the Antivirus feature on the main screen it opens up four different options for users to view and use.

These four other options are as follows,

Quick Scan

System Scan

Quarantine

Real-Time Protection

If ScanGuard has found a harmful file on your system it will find it and then place it in the Quarantine section.

You can visit the Quarantine section to view quarantined files.

There you can either delete these file permanently or restore them if you think ScanGuard made a mistake.

As far as Scan types go, the only difference between Quick Scan and System Scan is that System Scan is more comprehensive than Quick Scan.

And there isn’t much to say about the Real-Time protection because the name gives it away.

ScanGuard recommends that users should enable this feature all the time so that ScanGuard can protect the user’s machine 24/7 against online threats.

You can read the “Security” section of this ScanGuard review later.

Right now you need to know that ScanGuard Quick Scan feature is as useless as they come.

We had four EICAR files (files which are used to test antivirus products with fake viruses) in our Downloads folder and ScanGuard Quick Scan didn’t pick one of them.

System Boost

The System Boost feature basically speeds up your computer.

It comes with three sub-features.

It can help the user’s machine by optimizing Startup Programs.

ScanGuard System Boost also helps users by Uninstalling useless Applications.

And it also has the Browser Manager feature which will clear out the cache (along with cookies and history) or any other space your internet browser is taking up.

The only problem with all of these features is that these features as basically re-skinned versions of standard features that come already built within your operating system and web browser.

You can use those because they are more reliable and well-reputed instead of ScanGuard’s.

In other words, the System Boost feature is a pretty redundant one if you are using any modern operating system and web browser such as Windows 10 and/or Google Chrome.

Disk Cleaner

The Disk Cleaner feature has utilities such as Duplicate removal tool and Junk Cleaner.

Again, these features may come to use if your operating system didn’t have them already.

We don’t know why ScanGuard has these features (probably to take advantage of people who don’t know that these features come with Windows for free) in its security suite.

Web Security

The Web Security feature is basically a set of tools.

It has three major tools which are as follows,

VPN service

Firewall

Adblock Pro

Again, since you can easily get the best Adblock browser extension in the world from Google extensions website for free, why would you want one from ScanGuard?

And of course, Windows has its own firewall which is more powerful than any other free option, so why would you want to go with ScanGuard’s?

The Firewall section is pretty rudimentary.

It gives users three options.

One of them is to enable Windows Firewall (which Windows already enables by default on all systems), and the other two allow users to block or allow inbound and outbound traffic.

That may seem neat, but again, these features are built into modern versions of Windows, so why is ScanGuard charging for these features when they come for free with a user’s operating system?

Time To Check The VPN Service

Yes, ScanGuard does come with a VPN service.

It comes as a sub-feature of its Web Security feature.

ScanGuard VPN service gives users around 50 to 60 VPN server locations around the world.

It has around three VPN servers located in the US.

Along with that, ScanGuard VPN service covers most major regions of the world.

If we are strictly speaking in terms of variety of servers then ScanGuard has a pretty good VPN service.

But does it really work?

Can you view US Netflix with it?

Can you change YouTube region with it?

Let’s find out.

We connected to a US server and then tested ScanGuard VPN service.

For now, we can say that:

Yes, ScanGuard VPN service doesn’t work.

It doesn’t connect you to US Netflix.

And it doesn’t change your YouTube region either.

Moreover, we tried to access pcmag.com (which changes its website depending on your location) and it didn’t change to the US version.

Moreover, we also checked our IP address from various IP checking websites and they all showed our original location instead of ScanGuard’s VPN server location.

In other words, ScanGuard VPN service is as close to a scam as you are likely to get.

Let’s move forward with ScanGuard’s final feature.

Password Vault

According to Scanguard, the Password Vault is actually a safe location for users to store their important passwords.

Scanguard also says that once a user has stored password with Password Vault, ScanGuard will encrypt them and will ask the user for a master password which will be available locally on the user’s machine.

Moreover, it warns the user that the no one else aside from the user could access these stored passwords if they don’t have the master password.

Then, the feature asks the user to click the GET STARTED button.

Once you click that button ScanGuard shows you a pop-up message which asks the user for a master password and then to confirm the master password.

There is also a Password Strength meter below the password input fields to show the user how powerful his/her password is.

Once you have selected the master password, it takes you to your “vault”.

Here you have the option to LOCK your vault.

And add or edit more passwords which may connect to your accounts on other websites and services.

Of course, ScanGuard isn’t a reputed company for anything.

Therefore, we do not recommend that you provide ScanGuard will all of your passwords.

Or any of your passwords.

Besides, why use ScanGuard Password Vault when you can get the world’s best password manager in the form of LastPass for free?

If you go to the official TOTAL AV website, you will find that ScanGuard pretty much resembles TOTALTV.

In fact, you could almost mistake ScanGuard as a reskinned version of TOTAL AV.

The design and the layout are very similar, in other words.

Maybe both antivirus products are related to each other.

But we don’t know for sure.

Hence it is very important to not jump to any conclusions.

Scanguard Security

Remember when we mentioned that the “free” version of ScanGuard doesn’t really do anything except tell you that there is something wrong with your machine?

Yeah, that’s why got a hold of a paid version.

And it did perform exactly as advertised.

In other words, all four of its core functionalities identified accurate results after initial scans.

Though we didn’t find the results of much use since we used it on a pristine VM installation.

But there are still some things we find a bit sketchy about ScanGuard.

We don’t think it is a malware or even a scam, even though some reviewers on the internet are calling it so.

What we think is that ScanGuard is, at its best, a mediocre antivirus product.

Definitely passable.

Why do we say that when we just mentioned that the paid version of ScanGuard performed as advertised?

Here is why:

We didn’t find any reputable independent lab that tested ScanGuard. This is, at the very least, concerning. If it is one of the “best” antivirus products in the market then an independent lab should have got hold of it and tested it. And then ranked it as well.

There are very few, if any, positive reviews about ScanGuard on the internet. In fact, there are hardly any neutral ones either.

What Did The EICAR Test Tell Us

We tested ScanGuard with the EICAR file test and it gave us a mixed performance. What on earth is an EICAR file? Consider EICAR file as a way to test if your antivirus product even works or is it all just a circus.

In other words, it is a file that all antivirus products (the ones that work at least) recognize as a virus.

Zohair is currently a content crafter at Security Gladiators and has been involved in the technology industry for more than a decade. He is an engineer by training and, naturally, likes to help people solve their tech related problems. When he is not writing, he can usually be found practicing his free-kicks in the ground beside his house.

Jeff, thanks for the review. Question: now that I’ve read your review of Scanguard (I just downloaded the free version, filled out a pop -up form with my “real” name, email. and password) – I would like to unsubscribe and remove the Scanguard from my MacOS 10.13.6 – any suggestions HOW I CAN DO THIS ??

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Thanks for the comment.
This is what their official site says,
“To uninstall ScanGuard in MacOS, you need only drag the app ‘Trash’. To do this, open up Finder, and click on Applications. Locate ScanGuard, and drag it to the Trash (located on your dock).

Alternatively, you can open up more options with your secondary click on ScanGuard and select “Move to Trash” option.

Once the uninstallation has been completed, please ensure that you restart your device.”

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Good article. You covered a lot of things many would omit from a review. Your review showed it didn’t hype malware that didn’t exist. I have seen quite a bit of info from others who said it did exactly that and one who said McAfee was a threat. I see McAfee as a threat also. (O:=

Not finding most of the EICAR files is troubling. That tells me it is not very thorough. It would be nice to see a system that IS infected, with numerous malware infections to see if Scanguard is worthwhile in detection and removal since it says it’s also a cleaner. Another test would be to have Scanguard running and then trying to infect it to see how well it protects.

Thanks for taking the time to review and post your results. You never know when someone is giving an honest review when they post on the net. This review seems to break that tradition. I didn’t see any bias in your review. Well done.

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Thanks for the comment Texas Rebel.
As mentioned before, we try our best to present the good and bad points of each product.
Because let’s face it, in the current marketplace there is hardly a product that is one hundred percent good or one hundred percent bad. All of their pros and cons.

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Thanks much for this review ..VERY comphrehensive and easy to read …I think I will skip scanguard …This review helped with that decision .
Keep it up , Please . I always delete programs with Revo uninstall .

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Just wanted to say, this is a very well written review. Thanks for the easy breakdown on scanguard, I’m not going to bother using them. Nice to see a real independent view of their security, rather than fake promotion of their Security system that seems to happen on so many sites. ‘Preciate cha…-Zach M-

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Thanks alot for this independent review of Safe-Guard and making it easy to understand. Unfortunately, there are so many fake reviews lately that seem to only be promotion for different anti-virus software. It’s nice to see a website, and writer that gives a real comprehensive breakdown. ‘Preciate cha, -Zach M-

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Cheers for your review, I decided to search for a review after receiving an email:

Sara,

I have been trying to reach you regarding your outstanding antivirus payment for 2 months.

Despite previous reminders, I’m very disappointed to see that you haven’t been able to update your account to clear the balance.

If you do not update your payment details in the remaining 24 hours we will have no choice other than to terminate your antivirus protection.

This will likely leave you exposed and vulnerable to malware attacks, cybercrime and more…

If you decide to make the smart decision use the link below to avoid termination, and take advantage of a special 80% discount:

Click Here To Stay Protected

I’m sorry we haven’t managed to find another solution.

All the best in the future,

Dean
Account Manager
ScanGuard

I didn’t realise I’d even signed up for scanguard or which device I have it installed on but when I clicked on the link to update my details they did indeed have my card details but I will NOT be renewing after reading your review, I thank you for that but I’m at a loss as to a good and reliable program to install across all the family’s devices…

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Thank you for a very detailed & informative review, albeit, not being a young lad anymore & , having only recently just purchased my first personal laptop computer, much of the terminology is new to me; but suffice to say, I will be making use of your other recommendations vis-a-vis installation of an antivirus program. That being said, as mentioned, my PC-laptop is pretty new, merely 8 months old, but something has happened and it now takes almost half an hour to start up, when it once did the job in seconds. once started though, it’s not too bad (some days better than others) yet still considerably slower than the first few months. Is there any online software I might use to solve the issue, and if yes, would you kindly furnish me with the relevant website or, as I believe the IT-lingo, “address bar URL link? :)” A friend recommended Cc Cleaner, which did help, but only a little. Your assistance in the matter would be greatly appreciated – Thanks in anticipation – BR David GM

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Thanks for the comment David.
Of course, you can try and uninstall anything un-necessary.
Install a free antivirus to see if some malware is causing problems.
Install a spyware tools such as Super anti-spyware to see if there is spyware causing issues.
If nothing works, get a cheap SSD for $80 which will one-hundred percent make your laptop blazing fast.

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